Dragonborn
by spoonorita
Summary: "Take me with you," Saïx snorted. "And what could you possibly offer me?" "Well, you saved my life, so I'm indebted to you. And I can provide some defense until you get your weapon fixed," "With what? A few sparks and some steam?"
1. Quest 1: The Man in the River

The first part of an AU concoted with **horny-moon** on tumblr. Not so much an ongoing fic as a series of related oneshots and drabbles.

**Chapter summary:** "Take me with you," Saïx snorted. "And what could you possibly offer me?" "Well, you saved my life, so I'm indebted to you. And I can provide some defense until you get your weapon fixed," "With what? A few sparks and some steam?"

**Warnings for this oneshot: ** animal death, though it's a rather large carnivorous animal that had full intentions of eating them.

- - x - -

**Quest 1: The Man in the River**

The sun was setting, and with it would come darkness and all the dangers associated with it. Saïx had long since abandoned the roads, regardless of this danger; Solitude was hours away and he had hoped to make it there before daylight. He had miscalculated his route, running into mountains and blocked paths that were slowing him down and pissing him off and he was beginning to think that sticking to the road would have been the wisest choice after all.

His armor clanked with each step, echoing through the mountains and he couldn't help but think he was attracting attention as he moved. There was howling in the distance, and Saïx crouched and slowed his footsteps, muffling the noise from his armor, enough to hopefully sneak past the wolves without being noticed and without having to dull his blade anymore before he got to town where he could do the necessary maintanance on his equipment. His axe was cracked and his armor was falling apart, he was already missing one shoulder piece and the leather holding everything together was tearing.

The howling grew louder, and Saïx drew his battleaxe, he figured he'd been heard and he was less concerned with sneaking up on the wolves and more interested in eliminating them, removing one more obstacle from his path.

Saïx could hear the unmistakable sound of rushing water—likely a waterfall, and more cliffs for him to climb down—and the howling was beginning to take on a less canine ring to it. Saïx was almost sure he heard the word "help" being hollered.

He lowered his axe and started sprinting as fast as his armor would allow. He heard a feline snarling, the distinct sound of a sabrecat, and was half-tempted just to be on his way and leave the poor fool to a traveler's fate; those cats were monstrous and he wasn't sure his weapon would last the impact with that thing's skull. Honor drove him forward.

Sure enough, he came upon the large cat, growling and swiping with large paws at a man clinging to a rock in the river, who was hurling his best attempt at fireballs at the animal, before they disappeared in a hiss of steam. The scalding steam was barely keeping the cat at bay.

Saïx caught them both by surprise; the cat had no chance as Saïx's axe blade caught it right between the jaws and it crumpled to the ground in a heap of blood and fur. Saïx stood there heaving, trying to catch his breath. His axe blade had cracked completely, and a large chunk of it was still lodged between the beast's jaws.

He turned his attention to the man in the river, weary, for he didn't know if this man was friend or foe. Likely the latter, as the distressed man curled in on himself, manifesting a weak fireball between his fingers that kept trying to spark back into life as the rushing water continued to extinguish it.

"Back away, Nord. I'm warning you," the man threatened, his voice weak and breath heavy. The ruaging water was wearing him down, and Saïx expected that within minutes, he was going to lose his battle with the river and go tumbling to his death down the waterfall.

Saïx dropped his broken axe to the ground, to show he meant no harm. "Would you rather die in there, or cooperate enough so that I might be able to get you out of the river?"

The man lowered his hand, the flames extinguishing.

Saïx stepped down the river bank, stepping one foot into the river and reaching one hand out to the man in the water, who wasted no time in grasping Saïx's outstretched hand to pull himself out. The man stumbled up onto dry land, shaking and soaked to the bone, and wearing an expression on his face similar to a wet house cat. His hair was a vibrant red, darkened with water, and there were tattoos under his eyes, and Saïx almost mistook him for being Forsworn, if it weren't for the fact that his robes were distinctly elven.

Who was this guy?

The strange Forsworn-Elf man's face contorted. "There's a fish in my trousers," he deadpanned, reaching behind himself under his robes and dislodging a struggling trout from his pants, mouth gaping and fins spreading in distress, before tossing it back in the river behind him.

Saïx one-upped the stranger one last time before picking up his weapon and turning around, fully intending to leave this where it was. His weapon was unusable and he needed to get to Solitude to make the necessary repairs before he was ambushed by something too large for him to handle with a simple dagger and a shout.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?" the redhead asked as Saïx walked over to the cat carcass to dislodge the broken piece of his axe from its skull. It came loose with a sickening _crack. _

"I'm going about my way," Saïx answered, pocketing the blade shard. "As should you."

"Don't I at least get a chance to properly thank you?"

Saïx turned back around and glared at the stranger from under his helmet. "You threatened me just a moment ago,"

"Well, I was expecting you to be a bandit, not my knight in shining armor," the redhead answered, nervously scratching the back of his head. Saïx frowned at the comment. The stranger held his hand out. "I'm Axel. Best fire mage on this side of Tamriel. Got it memorized?"

Saïx wearily grasped Axel's hand, offering up his own name in return.

"How'd you end up in the river?" Saïx asked.

"Oh. Uh, I ran out of food so I was trying to catch a fish or two. And then those goddamn mudcrabs," Axel made pinching motions with his hands. "and their claws of _death_ startled me and I fell in. Fluffy over there showed up just before you did." He gestured to the sabrecat carcass.

Axel ran his hands through his limp hair to try and tame it, and then grabbed the hem of his robes to squeeze the excess water out. "So what brings you out in the middle of nowhere this late in the evening?"

Saïx looked away from Axel, his attention to the north. The sun was finally sinking below the horizon, and he could see the stars beginning to shine. There was a faint glow of the aurora. "Trying to take a shortcut to Solitude. I was hoping to be there by morning,"

Saïx looked back over at Axel with a frown when he heard a snort.

"You are _not_ going to get over that mountain before morning,"

"And how do you figure that?"

Axel took his boots off and dumped the water out. "Your weapon is broken and your armor is too heavy. There are trolls and bears on that mountain and you have no way to defend yourself, and your armor is going to slow you down," He shoved his boots back onto his feet and shook the water out of his hair, splattering Saïx with it in the process.

Saïx looked down at his useless weapon in his hands before looking back up to Axel. "What are you suggesting?"

"Take me with you,"

Saïx snorted. "And what could you possibly offer me?"

"Well, you saved my life, so I'm indebted to you. And I can provide some defense until you get your weapon fixed,"

"With what? A few sparks and some steam?"

With that comment, Axel's expression darkened. He crossed his arms and held one hand out, snapping his fingers. A small flame came to life, but Saïx was not impressed. Axel thusfar seemed to be nothing more than a cocky gloat, and Saïx was almost certain that he didn't want him tagging along. And then there was heat and flames and an explosion that knocked Saïx backward onto the ground, his broken axe landing several feet to his left.

"Sorry. The water delayed it for a second," Axel said.

Saïx sat there on the ground, trying to regain his composure. "Alright. You can come along,"

Axel grinned triumphantly, and reached a hand out to help Saïx off the ground. Saïx had to struggle; as much as he hated to admit it, Axel was right. His armor was weighing him down, and with his weapon in the condition it was in, he was never going to make it up that mountain.

"So, uh, my gear is a few hundred yards that way," Axel pointed somewhere off to Saïx's right. "Let me gather it up really quick and we can be on our way."

Saïx frowned. They weren't a _we_; Saïx was on a mission and Axel was just tagging along for the ride. "Make it quick, or I'm leaving you behind,"

Axel's gear was minimal; a simple tent and bed roll and a satchel with a few potions. Axel was ready in minutes. And Saïx was already headed due north as Axel caught up. They were headed north, Solitude off in the far distance, and the bright northern lights casting them in its eerie glow before they disappeared into the heavy shadow of thick forest.


	2. Quest 2: I Don't Trust You

**Chapter Summary: **"Where did you get this?" Saïx asked. He didn't even try to hide the suspicion in his question. "I, uh, _acquired _it from someone," Axel finally answered Saïx's question. "You stole it,"

- - x - -

They'd spent two days on foot before reaching Solitude, at about three in the morning. Saïx had booked two rooms at the Winking Skeever, one for himself and his new-found companion, and had headed out early the next morning to find a blacksmith to repair his shattered axe. His axe was beyond repair, but the blacksmith offered to forge him a new one... for about six hundred septims more than he had.

Saïx sold everything he had to spare; a few of the poisons he had on hand were worth a bit of coin, but he was still short by three hundred and fifty septims. At this point, he was nearly at a loss of what to do. Their rooms weren't free and neither was food, and the argonian offering Saïx some coin for a quick job was too seedy for Saïx's tastes, no matter how much it paid.

Saïx was sitting toward the back of the Winking Skeever, the lights were dim and flickering and somewhat disorienting after three steins of mead. He was chewing on the stringiest cut of beef, smaller than his hand and hardly satisfying but he didn't want to give up the coin for anything better.

He jumped at the sound of porcelain hitting the table, looking away from his plate to see Axel setting two plates of the juiciest beef cuts that he'd ever seen, sliding one across the table in front of Saïx before sitting in the seat across from him.

"We don't have the money for that," Saïx said.

"Sure we do," Axel said, ripping a piece from his steak with a fork and stuffing it in his mouth.

Saïx glared at Axel from under his helmet. "My weapon is in pieces and you're wasting coin on a meal that's going to set us back another fifty septims,"

Axel swallowed his mouthful and reached into his pocket, tossing a small leather pouch onto the table in front of Saïx. "Relax," he said, stuffing another piece of meat into his mouth.

Saïx retrieved it, loosening the drawstring to peer at the pile of gold inside.

"There's one thousand septims in there," Axel said around his mouthful, before swallowing it in a painful-sounding gulp. "You're welcome."

"Where did you get this?" Saïx asked. He didn't even try to hide the suspicion in his question.

Saïx didn't trust Axel as far as he could throw him. Which, judging by the elf-man's stature, wasn't very far. The only thing that Saïx had really been able to get out of him over the last few days -aside from the mindless drivel that the redhead seemed to be so good at- was that he'd grown up in a high elf family in Summerset Isle, despite his Nord blood. And the fact that Axel had been so friendly with the small troop of Thalmor that they'd run into shortly after arriving in Solitude.

Saïx grew up in the Stormcloak camps. His upbringing told him that the Thalmor weren't to be trusted.

Earlier that morning, Saïx had come across Axel walking through the streets of Solitude, a brand new and expensive-looking hunting bow slung across his shoulders. When asked about it, Axel had grinned and said that they'd never miss it. Saïx returned the bow to the appropriate shop with an apology, and the shop owner had told him to keep his _friend_ on a leash. Saïx made it quite clear that Axel wasn't his friend.

"I, uh, _acquired _it from someone," Axel finally answered Saïx's question.

"You stole it,"

Axel made a gesture to shush him and then looked around the pub, looking to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. "_Stole _is such a harsh word,"

"Somebody might have _needed _that money,"

"Relax. It came from some noble guy in the Blue Palace,"

"The Blue Palace!" Saïx said, louder than needed and Axel hushed him again. Saïx lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "What were you doing at the Blue Palace!?"

"Shopping,"

"Are you-?" Saïx said, burying his head in his arms with a sigh. "You're going to get us kicked out of Solitude."

"I wasn't caught, if that's what you're worried about,"

"I couldn't care less if you get caught. If they catch you, you deserve every day you spend in that jail cell,"

Axel's expression darkened and he glared at Saïx before bringing his attention back to his meal. "Take that gold and go get your weapon so we can leave,"

"No," Saïx said. "I'll earn my own gold."

Axel leaned in closer and spoke in a sharp whisper. "I went through hell to get that coin purse for you. You could at least appreciate it,"

"I don't,"

"Why not?"

"Because it's _wrong_,"

Axel sighed in frustration, burying his face in his hands. "The animals and beasts all over Skyrim steal from each other all the time,"

"We are not animals,"

"They do it for survival. _We_ are _surviving_. And neither of us will survive very long without weapons. There are bears out there. Trolls. And dragons! _Dragons_ Saïx! Have you heard about what happened in Helgen? _Kynesgrove_?"

Saïx sank down into his seat. His head was swimming from the mead and he was in no condition to discuss or even _think_ about what happened in Helgen or Kynesgrove. He sighed and grabbed the coin purse and pocketed it. As against stealing as he was, Axel was right. They would not last long in the wilds of Skyrim without some sort of defense, and he could not afford to stay in one place for very long. Axel looked up at him and smiled.

"I'll buy my new axe in the morning," Saïx said, finishing off with a barely audible "thank you" that had Axel smiling wider.

Axel turned his attention back to his food. "You should eat while it's still hot," he took a large bite, chasing it down with the leftover mead from the stein in front of Saïx.

Saïx tossed aside the leathery beef he'd been chewing on, taking a large bite from the slab that Axel had brought him. It was warm and juicy, and nothing had been so satisfying in _months_.

- - x - -

Saïx was at the backsmith shop at eight am sharp; the sun was barely up and the smith didn't seem too happy to see Saïx there so soon after opening. His old axe had been iron, while the new one was crafted from quality steel. He used the leftover gold to purchase a brand new hunting bow and a quiver of arrows to give to Axel, as a good gesture. Not exactly a "thank you," because Saïx wouldn't thank him outright for his theft. The bow was nicer and sturdier than the one that Axel had stolen, and Axel's face lit up when Saïx presented him with it.

They left Solitude before noon; the skies were clear and Axel's mood was sky-high and he pointed out all the Elven ships pulling in and out of port in the river below them. One ship housed the Thalmor elves they'd run into when they first entered Solitude.

"How do you know those elves?" Saïx asked.

"Oh, uh…" Axel scratched at the hair on the back of his head. "Just some old friends from back home."

Saïx narrowed his eyes. Axel seemed to be dodging the question, but Saïx couldn't read him. One moment he was waving at the Thalmor elves and the next, he was in step beside Saïx, humming an Elvish tune to himself in a voice that was wonderfully smooth and steady, and Saïx found that he quite enjoyed, despite his distrust for the elf-man. Axel stayed in step quite well, a content smile on his face.

The road ahead was long and hard; Saïx had some trials ahead of him, and Axel probably did too. But Saïx thought, that as long as there was someone there beside him, even if that someone was an infuriating elf-man, that maybe he didn't mind it so much.


	3. Quest 3: Fus Ro Dah

**Chapter Summary:** "Shoot it down!" Saïx howled, drawing his bow from his back. Axel did the same. Their arrows bounced off the dragon's scales like pebbles with a clatter like hail hitting rooftops. The dragon made another pass, spitting out a curtain of flame, and Axel and Saïx quickly exhausted their supply of arrows. "What now?" Axel asked. "I don't know. Throw rocks or something!"

**Warnings:** Mild gore

- - x - -

The night was clear and quiet; insects chirped around their campsite, the fire popped and crackled and the skeever sizzled as it roasted. The breeze was cold; they had stopped to camp about a third of the way up the mountain, and Saïx was starting to wish they'd hunkered down for the night a bit earlier at a lower altitude. Axel was unusually quiet, huddled in his robes like a blanket.

The elf-man's stomach gave off an audible growl.

"Is the skeever done yet?" He asked. "I'm starving."

Saïx poked at the skeever with the butt of his axe, shaking his head with a grunt. Axel sighed, and scooted closer to the fire.

"If you get any closer, you'll start to roast alongside the skeever," Saïx said.

"Then at least I'll die a warm, happy man,"

"If you think this is cold, we're not even halfway up the mountain,"

"Oh joy,"

They sat in silence again, Saïx poking at the coals with his axe to coax it hotter and cook their food quicker.

Within ten minutes, they both had a handful of well-done skeever meat. Skeever meat was tough and stringy and tasted somewhat like manure, but they hadn't eaten much in the last two days aside from a few carrots and potatoes, so they ate it anyway.

"This tastes like shit. Literally," Axel said.

"Your taste palette is exquisite,"

Axel looked up at Saïx with narrowed eyes, and Saïx gave a grin that Axel would never be able to see, behind Saïx's helmet and the charred skeever meat in front of his face.

"I can never tell whether you're joking or not,"

"It was a joke,"

Axel gave Saïx a curious look before going back to chewing on leathery meat. "You are the strangest Nord I've ever come across,"

Axel's expression turned stone hard and he swung around in his spot, his attention to the west. Saïx was a little concerned with the elf-man's sudden change of demeanor.

"What is it?" Saïx asked.

"You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?"

_"That,"_

Saïx strained his ears. All he could hear was the pop of the coals in the fire and the cicadas down the mountain. "I don't hear anything,"

Axel scanned the darkness for a moment longer before turning back around to face Saïx again, still weary. "Whatever it was, it stopped,"

This time they both heard it. The sound of large leathery wings and a screech in the wind to the west, and then there were flames, sprouting up on the ground alongside their camp.

Saïx grabbed his battleaxe and Axel grabbed his dagger off the ground and conjured a rather large flame with his left hand, both following the large winged shape above them with their gaze and a few well-aimed bursts of flame from Axel, before it landed on a large outcropping jutting from the cliff above them.

"Dragon!" Axel shouted.

It sat perched on the cliffside, scales shining in the moonlight and talons digging into the rock, sending stones and boulders rolling down the cliff.

Saïx grabbed him by the arm and took off down the mountain.

"What are you doing!?" Axel yelled, turning back to look as the dragon leapt off the cliff and started soaring toward them with a screech. "All our stuff is back there!"

"We have to get to flat ground so it can land!" Saïx yelled back, dodging trees and trying to avoid sending Axel crashing into anything.

Axel yanked his arm free and followed Saïx down the steep mountainside. "Why would we want to do that!?"

"Because it has an _advantage_ over us in the air!"

"Since when are you an expert on dragons!?"

The dragon roared somewhere above the trees, and then came yellowed light and heat when it set the treetops above them on fire. Saïx's heart was beating its way out of his chest and Axel's breathing behind him was labored, but sweet relief came when they burst through the trees into a clear expanse of tundra.

Almost.

They didn't have time to catch their breath before the dragon flew out behind them, roaring and landing on the ground in front of them with one last flap of its wings. Saïx was prepared with his axe, swinging hard and sending it crashing into the dragon's skull. It bounced right off, sparking as the steel hit the dragon's scales, doing little damage. He swung again, catching it behind the eye and he drew blood. It was progress.

The dragon screeched, an angry sound full of hot breath, saliva and brimstone, and Saïx dodged to the left just as the dragon coughed out a fireball twice his size. Axel leapt forward and punched where Saïx's axe had left its damage, his hand flaming white hot, and the dragon staggered momentarily. Saïx took the opportunity and landed a hard blow to the dragon's right wing.

The dragon was angry and bloody. It spread its wings, knocking both Saïx and Axel to the ground, and took back off into the air. They both pushed themselves back up, scanning the sky for wherever the dragon had flown off to. Saïx spotted it to the south.

"Shoot it down!" Saïx howled, drawing his bow from his back. Axel did the same.

Their arrows bounced off the dragon's scales like pebbles with a clatter like hail hitting rooftops. The dragon made another pass, spitting out a curtain of flame, and Axel and Saïx quickly exhausted their supply of arrows.

"What now?" Axel asked.

"I don't know. Throw rocks or something!"

Saïx hurled a few heavy rocks at the dragon soaring above them, the dragon flying higher out of his range of fire when one well-aimed stone hit its wing. Axel followed it up with a few fire bursts, hitting it hard on its stomach and jarring it in its flight.

The dragon came crashing back down onto the ground, howling, its claws digging trenches into the permafrost when it lunged forward. The two men rushed forward. The plan was to kill this thing before it could do the same to them.

Axel rushed forward ahead of Saïx, his dagger drawn, detouring to the right to climb onto a boulder a few feet from the dragon and leap toward the dragon's head, sinking his dagger into the beast's left eye. The dragon thrashed, shrieking, and threw Axel off against the boulder with a nasty _thud_.

The dragon was screaming, blood gushing from its punctured eyeball and it turned to the boulder where Axel sat, winded, baring its teeth, and its demonic voice spoke words in a language that Saïx didn't even know he understood.

Saïx reacted before the dragon could.

_"Fus ro dah!"_ He exhaled on the last word, and his voice exploded and hit the dragon like a charging mammoth. The dragon fell over and then righted itself, shaking its head and turning its attention back on Saïx with a roar. Axel pushed himself away from the boulder, nursing a broken shoulder, and turned his attention to Saïx.

"What the hell was that!?" Axel screeched, flames licking at the fingertips of his good hand, ready to turn on the nord in case he turned out to be a bigger threat than the dragon.

Saïx was dizzy; Shouting took a lot more out of him than he could afford during battle. He lifted his axe, praying that when he swung, that it would hit its mark. He could feel his own blood pulsing in his ears, and when he swung the axe down, he got lucky.

The dragon collapsed, Saïx's axe wedged into its skull between its eyes.

Axel slowly limped over toward Saïx, once he was certain that he wasn't going to turn on him.

Saïx dislodged his weapon. They were both covered in the dragon's blood, and it oozed onto the ground from the fatal wound that Saïx had inflicted on it.

"What the hell!? Where did you learn to do _that_?" Axel yelled. Saïx only responded with a glare. "What the hell _are_ you?"

The dragon twitched and Axel jumped, readying his dagger, but Saïx just turned to walk away.

The twitching turned to flames and then burning embers as the dragon's corpse burned away, leaving behind charred bones.

And then there was light.

Light burst from the dragon bones like flames and Saïx was surrounded; Axel tried to prepare his magic defenses, hindered by his injury, but he didn't have a clue as to what was happening to Saïx, or how to even stop it, but the light surrounded the nord before bursting right through him, and Saïx just continued walking back up the mountain toward their camp when the light died away and he was left unharmed.

Axel stood rooted to his spot with his mouth gaping like a fish, the dragon bones behind him still sizzling.

Saïx was almost out of sight before Axel was able to bring himself to move and follow him back to camp.

- x -

Axel dug his last healing potion from his satchel, struggling for several minutes with a limp arm and burning shoulder to remove the seal and swallow it down in two large gulps. Saïx only stopped once, looking behind him with mild concern as the elf-man screamed when his bones splintered and mended themselves.

It took them an hour to get back to camp, between their injuries and the mountain in their way. They were silent the entire way; Saïx just wanted his bed roll and Axel was weak from the grinding and popping of his shoulder healing itself, and still more confused than anything over that shout that Saïx had directed at the dragon.

The rumors he'd been hearing through Skyrim over the last several months, could it really be Saïx? Talk about dumb luck.

Their campfire was dying, and Saïx threw a few more logs on it to keep it burning through the night.

Saïx was climbing into his tent when Axel spoke.

"It's you isn't it?" Saïx stopped in his tracks and turned his head toward Axel. "You're the dragonborn."

"Does it matter?"

"You were the one who killed the dragon in Kynesgrove," It wasn't a question, more a statement of understanding.

"And Whiterun. Though I had quite a bit of help for that one,"

Saïx stood facing Axel and Axel just regarded him with a curious glance, before smiling and shaking his head.

"This has to be the coolest thing that ever happened to me. Imagine it. Me, the dragonborn's sidekick," Axel waved everything off and climbed in his tent.

Saïx was bewildered. "You are an enigma," he said. "It's infuriating."

"Good night, dragonborn," Axel chirped from inside his tent.

Saïx exhaled hard with a growl; he was regretting ever stopping to help Axel out with that sabercat in the river. He climbed into his own tent, tossing his helmet to the side and removing the bulkiest of his armor before climbing inside his bed roll.

Sleep couldn't come fast enough.


	4. Quest 4: Unarmed and Vulnerable

**Chapter summary: **"I'm going to go wash up in the river. Wanna join me?" Axel asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. Saïx frowned. "I'd rather not,"

The thing with dried blood is that it started to stink after a while.

The morning after their fight with the dragon, Axel was complaining about the stink of rot coming from their clothes the second they woke up, and the band of wolves that wandered into their camp shortly after was what initially convinced Saïx that they needed to delay their travel long enough to bathe, he'd been planning on just packing up their gear and moving along. Three wolves were easy to take care of. If it had been a bear or some trolls... not so much.

Axel had no qualms about stripping naked in front of Saïx, who was still practically a stranger, in order to climb into the river by their camp to wash the blood from his hair and scrub his robes clean.

Saïx had returned to camp after disposing of the dead wolves to be met with Axel's naked backside as he dug through his satchel, presumably looking for soap. Axel heard the squeaking of Saïx's armor, and turned around to greet him.

"Morning, dragonborn!" Axel chirped with a wave.

"Please don't call me that," Saïx said. He deliberately did not look at the redhead; seeing the elf-man in all his glory was too much for even Saïx this early in the morning.

"I'm going to go wash up in the river. Wanna join me?" Axel asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. Saïx frowned.

"I'd rather not,"

"Party pooper," Axel said, locating the soap bar he'd been digging for and standing up, his soiled robes thrown over his shoulder. Saïx looked away again. "Well, please do find somewhere where you can wash up. You smell like a troll's backside."

Saïx narrowed his eyes but otherwise ignored Axel's comment, turning back around and trudging off into the woods, grabbing his knapsack from his tent along the way.

Once their camp was out of sight, Saïx removed his helmet. His hair stuck to his face, matted with sweat and dragon blood, and the pungent odor wafting up from inside his helmet, as much as he hated to admit it, did smell a little like a troll's backside.

Finding a secluded section of the river wasn't easy, but after half an hour of walking along the river banks, he found a little pool about knee-deep. The mountain water was icy cold, but it was free of mudcrabs and slaughterfish, and after spending years in Windhelm, Saïx could handle a little bit of cold water. He briefly wondered how Axel was handling the freezing river water.

Saïx removed his armor, and it peeled away from his body like a second skin, stuck with sweat and the dragon blood that had seeped under the leather. The stench was awful.

Saïx pulled a bar of soap from his knapsack and stepped into the cold water with a sharp inhale. He sat down, the water completely covering his naked lower half. He had three healing potions left and was trying to reserve them, and the bruises and muscle strains from the fight last night had left his body aching and feeling generally quite miserable when he woke up, unlike the elf-man who, after a potion to mend his bones and a night of sleep for it to work, had been feeling pretty great. The cold water amplified Saïx's aches and pains, and he wanted to finish this as quick as possible.

He pulled his filthy armor into the water with him and scrubbed at it with the bar of soap, the dirt and blood floating away in clouds of soiled soap bubbles. He hadn't seen his armor so clean and shiny since he'd had it forged. His helmet took the longest to clean, and Saïx cleaned it with extra care.

He laid his freshly scrubbed armor out on the riverbank to dry before starting work on himself.

Saïx was grime-free within minutes, his arms were covered in goosebumps and everything from the waist down was numb from the cold water. He scrubbed the filth from his hair, his hair hanging around his face in tangled blue ropes. He made a mental note to take a comb through his hair later.

The river slowly took the soapy grime out of the pool that Saïx was sitting in, and he climbed out of the frigid water. The temperature in the air was still a little chilly, but the sun felt good against his skin.

His armor was nowhere near dry-he hadn't been in the water even ten minutes-and he flipped it over so the sun could dry it quicker, shaking water from it in the process. He sat down on the ground beside it, facing the river with his back to the sun. The heat from the sun was soothing for his aches and pains, and he might have fallen asleep if he hadn't been so exposed and vulnerable up on the mountainside.

There was a snap in the woods behind him, and he sunk low to the ground, silently grabbing an old dagger from his knapsack. He was hoping to avoid having to use it. It was bad enough if someone stumbled upon him out here alone, much less unarmed and exposed. Another branch cracked, and a muffled "ouch" followed; Saïx relaxed a little knowing that it wasn't a wild animal. It was much easier to hide from a human or an elf than it was Skyrim's wildlife.

Saïx immediately tensed back up again when Axel stumbled out from behind a bush, fully clothed and dry - presumably thanks to fire magic - and attention directly on where Saïx was crouching.

"Oh, there you are! I was beginning to think I'd never find-hey!" Saïx chucked one of his gauntlets directly at the elf-man, narrowly missing and hitting a tree. Saïx threw a boot as hard as he can and it sailed directly past Axel's head, hitting something behind him with a loud metallic _clang_!

"What the hell, Saïx!?" Axel screeched, and Saïx's other gauntlet slapped him in the chest. "Ow!"

Saïx grabbed his helmet and this time it hit its mark when he threw it, bouncing off of Axel's face and the shock sending him stumbling back into a tree, holding his mouth where Saïx's helmet had struck.

"Okay! Okay I'm leaving!" Axel shouted with a slight slur, around his rapidly swelling lip and the pain splitting through his jaw. There was blood dripping down his chin. "I'll leave you to bathe! Just stop throwing your shit at me!"

He stumbled away, muttering under his breath in what sounded like elvish, most likely just a string of profanity that Saïx couldn't understand.

Saïx laid down flat on the ground, his heart pounding and adrenaline pumping much harder than it should considering the threat had only been Axel, who wasn't even really a threat at all. But Axel hadn't even seen his face yet, he wasn't about to let him see him naked.

Saïx took a few minutes to calm down, before sliding his armor back on and tracking down the pieces he'd just projectile-launched at the elf-man. There was a dent in his helmet and a new crack going around the eye hole, but it still fit comfortably and held up solidly. He'd repair it the next time he had extra iron to spare. He almost didn't find his boot, it was lodged between a tree and a large boulder, and the leather was ripped.

Saïx strolled back into camp like nothing happened, his armor clean and sweet-smelling. Axel was sitting in front of their now dead campfire, holding a cloth to his face that was soaked in a foul-smelling tincture that was healing his wounds. The tincture was weak; it numbed the pain and calmed the swelling but Axel's lip was still cut and his face was starting to bruise. He glared at Saïx when he strolled through camp, and Saïx returned the glare. Saïx was hit with a wave of minor embarrassment, but he pushed that feeling aside.

"Most people have the tact to ask nicely for someone to leave, rather than hitting them in the face with heavy objects," Axel spat.

"Most people have the courtesy to not seek out someone while he is bathing unless he wishes to bed them or kill them," Saïx responded with an equal amount of ice in his voice.

Axel narrowed his eyes and tossed the smelly cloth aside, running his fingers over his bruised face. Things were silent between them for several moments while Saïx started pulling down his tent.

"Where are we headed?" He asked. 

"To the monastery,"

"Monastery? You mean High Hrothgar? What business do we have there?"

"_I_ have business there," Saïx corrected. "_You_ will wait outside."

"And why is that?"

"Because _you_ are not dragonborn, and therefore will not be able to handle the voices of the Greybeards. By all means, if you want your insides turned to jelly, you're welcome to join me,"

"I'll wait outside, thanks,"

They had camp packed up within ten minutes, still giving each other the silent treatment, though by the time they'd set out again, Axel was back to chattering Saïx's ear off, most of it complaints that the trail would be much easier if they made their way to Ivarstead first, to which Saïx responded that he didn't want to take the extra day's travel to make their way around the mountain just to get to Ivarstead.

So climb the mountain they did, and the stone steps leading to High Hrothgar couldn't come quicker.


End file.
